May 10, 2014

Newsweek on spying: “You can't embarrass an Israeli"

From Newsweek:
Israel Won’t Stop Spying on the U.S.By Jeff Stein / May 6, 2014 5:31 AM EDT

Israel is flouting the “friendly” rules of espionage to steal U.S. trade and tech secrets 
Now U.S. intelligence officials are saying—albeit very quietly, behind closed doors on Capitol Hill—that our Israeli “friends” have gone too far with their spying operations here. 
According to classified briefings on legislation that would lower visa restrictions on Israeli citizens, Jerusalem’s efforts to steal U.S. secrets under the cover of trade missions and joint defense technology contracts have “crossed red lines.”  
Israel’s espionage activities in America are unrivaled and unseemly, counterspies have told members of the House Judiciary and Foreign Affairs committees, going far beyond activities by other close allies, such as Germany, France, the U.K. and Japan. A congressional staffer familiar with a briefing last January called the testimony “very sobering…alarming…even terrifying.” Another staffer called it “damaging.”  
The Jewish state’s primary target: America’s industrial and technical secrets.  
“No other country close to the United States continues to cross the line on espionage like the Israelis do,” said a former congressional staffer who attended another classified briefing in late 2013, one of several in recent months given by officials from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the State Department, the FBI and the National Counterintelligence Directorate.

The intelligence agencies didn’t go into specifics, the former aide said, but cited “industrial espionage—folks coming over here on trade missions or with Israeli companies working in collaboration with American companies, [or] intelligence operatives being run directly by the government, which I assume meant out of the [Israeli] Embassy.”  ...
“If we give them free rein to send people over here, how are we going to stop that?” the former congressional aide asked. “They’re incredibly aggressive. They’re aggressive in all aspects of their relationship with the United States. Why would their intelligence relationship with us be any different?”
   
And from a follow-up by Stein in Newsweek:
According to a senior former U.S. intelligence operative, a Secret Service agent who was enjoying a moment of solitude in Gore’s bathroom before the Veep arrived heard a metallic scraping sound. “The Secret Service had secured [Gore’s] room in advance and they all left except for one agent, who decided to take a long, slow time on the pot,” the operative recalled for Newsweek. “So the room was all quiet, he was just meditating on his toes, and he hears a noise in the vent. And he sees the vent clips being moved from the inside. And then he sees a guy starting to exit the vent into the room.” 
Did the agent scramble for his gun? No, the former operative said with a chuckle.  
“He kind of coughed and the guy went back into the vents.” 
To some, the incident stands as an apt metaphor for the behind-closed-doors relations between Israel and America, “frenemies” even in the best of times. The brazen air-duct caper “crossed the line” of acceptable behavior between friendly intelligence services – but because it was done by Israel, it was quickly hushed up by U.S. officials. ....
“It has been extensive for years,” a former top U.S. security official told Newsweek Wednesday after Israeli Intelligence Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz, among other top Israeli officials, “unequivocally” denied the Newsweek report, saying Israel stopped all spying operations in the U.S. after Jonathan Pollard was convicted of spying for Israel in 1987. One anonymous official was quoted in the Israeli media as saying Newsweek’s account “had the whiff of anti-Semitism in it.” 
But a former U.S. intelligence operative intimately familiar with Israeli espionage rejected the anti-Semitism charge. “There is a small community of ex-CIA, FBI and military people who have worked this account who are absolutely cheering on [the Newsweek] story,” he said. “Not one of them is anti-Semitic. In fact, it has nothing to do with anti-Semitism. It has only to do with why [Israel] gets kid-glove treatment when, if it was Japan doing it or India doing it at this level, it would be outrageous.” 
... “You can't embarrass an Israeli,” he said. “It’s just impossible to embarrass them. You catch them red-handed, and they shrug and say, 'Okay now, anything else?'” 
Always lurking, former intelligence officials say, was the powerful “Israeli lobby,” the network of Israel’s friends in Congress, industry and successive administrations, Republican and Democratic, ready to protest any perceived slight on the part of U.S. security officials. A former counterintelligence specialist told Newsweek he risked Israel’s wrath merely by providing routine security briefings to American officials, businessmen and scientists heading to Israel for meetings and conferences. 
“We had to be very careful how we warned American officials,” he said. “We regularly got calls from members of Congress outraged by security warnings about going to Israel. And they had our budget. When ... the director of the CIA gets a call from an outraged congressman–’What are these security briefings you're giving? What are these high-level threat warnings about travel to Tel Aviv you're giving? This is outrageous’ – he has to pay close attention. There was always this political delicacy that you had to be aware of.” 
The annual exercise in which the State Department publishes security profiles on foreign countries gave the intelligence agencies huge headaches, he added. 
“When we were doing the annual threat rating for the U.S. Embassy and consulates [in Israel], it was always a huge debate,” he said. “The intelligence community would always be urging the highest level of threats, while the State Department would be saying, ‘This is not going to go over very well, we can't give this kind of rating, because there will be certain consequences in terms of travel warnings and restrictions.’ It was always a big, big debate on how you rate the threat over there.” 
But the danger is real, he and other former U.S. intelligence officials familiar with Israel’s methods say. Israeli agents “go after senior U.S. Navy officers on shore leave in Haifa, after space industry officials, or scientists with intellectual property, anywhere. This has always been a huge concern for the community.” 
In the States, Israeli officials and businessmen are forever trying to lure attractive American targets to visit Israel. Representatives of Maf’at, an administrative body that yokes the Israel Defense Ministry to its military industries, give U.S. counterintelligence agencies great concern, one of the former U.S. intelligence officials said. "They were the ones that really caused us a lot of concern. Because they had a plausible reason to attend all these conferences and defense contracting facilities and whatnot. It was a great cover vehicle for industrial espionage,” he said. 
... “Their goal,” he continued, “is to get contacts to come out of the U.S. and over there and then wine them, dine them, assess them, see what their weaknesses are. I mean, we had government officials going over there who were offered drugs, like, ‘Hey, do you want to go get some pot?’ What? These are U.S. government officials. The drugs, women coming to your hotel room – they throw everything at you. No matter how high the official.” 

35 comments:

Anonymous said...

Newsweek disingenuously scapegoating Israel when in fact Israel has been able to do this because US is controlled by Jews.

If American gentiles weren't afraid of Jewish power, they would have raised alarm on this long ago.

What Pollard went to jail for is the norm today.

If anything, whole bunch of neo-Pollards can get you in trouble if you blow the whistle.

This Newsweek article is really a message to careless Jews(as is Sterling case): "Don't be too obvious. You are embarrassing us."

Dennis Dale said...

From that second Newsweek story:

On Wednesday, Israeli Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz batted away such espionage allegations, saying “Israel does not spy in the U.S., does not enlist spies in the U.S., and does not do intelligence gathering in the U.S.” Likewise, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman said he “would not agree to any spying on the United States, neither directly nor indirectly.”

Not exactly refuting that "shameless" charge, fellas.

Anonymous said...

Gee, as an American, I'm SO outraged. I mean, I'm sure the US NEVER spies on Israel or any of its other allies, for that matter. And the Obama administration is SUCH a good ally to Israel, too, as illustrated by their turning off sanctions on Iran so Iran, out of the deep gratitude its leaders surely feel, will be sure to drop its nuke program. It's all really SO hard to understand.

>Sarcasm off<

JI said...

I know the US spies on everyone else's communications via the NSA, but I sure would love it if we were stealing their trade and technical secrets to help our own companies become more profitable. I mean, if we were really successful at this, more innovation would come from the US than is currently the case.

Anonymous said...

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2014/05/10/mel-brooks-political-correctness-would-bot%20allow-blazing-saddles-to-be-made-today

Reg Cæsar said...

Way OT, but I thought the Steveosphere might enjoy this headline from the reigning champion of Pissing the Right People Off:

The International Gay War on Black People Continues

Angela Merkel's Cell Phone said...

I believe the Jews have a word for your criticism of Israel - 'chutzpah'

Anonymous said...

Amazing how many people bring up the fact that the US spies on other countries as a defense of Israel. The NSA (what they're referring to) is all sigint, which is really not that useful in terms of acquiring high level information. In addition, the real problem isn't Israel's spying *per se*--I mean, they're a sovereign state, right?--but the fact that any countermeasures are successfully opposed by pro-Israel pressure groups. The CIA simply isn't able to do their jobs because of wealthy traitors living in the US.

Anonymous said...

Gee, as an American, I'm SO outraged. I mean, I'm sure the US NEVER spies on Israel or any of its other allies, for that matter.

Do you care more about "equality" between our country and our client state that we subsidize heavily OR do you care about protecting our country's industrial and technological edge, which helps to keep the country safe?

I am generally pro-Israel, but, at the end of the day, I am an American and care about my country foremost. Those "Americans" who form and support the Israel lobby seems to care about something other than our country first. They are possibly treasonous and at least unpatriotic.

I know the US spies on everyone else's communications via the NSA, but I sure would love it if we were stealing their trade and technical secrets to help our own companies become more profitable.

It's actually worse than that. Israel's defense industry has a very small domestic market, so, in order to support itself, it has to export aggressively. And aggressive exports often require offsets (production in buyer's couuntry) and technology transfer.

It's been an open secret for decades that Israel would often trade American-acquired military technology for economic gain and in order to sustain its own defense industry (and other sundry gains). Israel has sold billions of dollars of military equipment and technology to our rival and potential nemesis China, for example. It is highly likely that our technology was transferred to China via Israel without our consent.

But I don't blame the Israelis for this. They're just cowboys trying to carve out their own turf in a tough neighborhood. The people I blame are American citizens who reflexively side with Israel over our country. These include Americans of Jewish descent as well as those pro-Israeli politicians and think-tank types who seem to conflate Israeli interests with our own.

You fool me once, shame on you; you fool me twice, shame on me.

Per Ron Unz's article on meritocracy in America, Christian whites (and Asians) are being discriminated by Jews in their own country all the while Israel, supported by Jewish Americans, are robbing the U.S. blind and selling its technological treasures to our rivals and enemies.

And then they have the audacity to accuse the whistleblowers of "anti-Semitism." Now that's chutzpah.

Anonymous said...

BBC news this morning - they've sacked a DJ for playing a record containing what they describe as "the most toxic word in the English language".

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2625248/BBC-sacks-DJ-playing-The-Sun-Has-Got-His-Hat-On-didnt-know-original-features-N-word-Clarkson-wasnt-fired-actually-saying-it.html

The good news is that BBC DJs are free to continue playing rap music and "Oliver's Army".

dearieme said...

“crossed red lines” : well that's sure to terrify them.

Tell me, do you suppose that the Israelis know what it is in his background that Obama has been so keen to hide from Americans?

Anonymous said...

This dominance could be overthrown with a generation of embryonic selection for IQ...

Anonymous said...

Careful, don't piss us off - we might start issuing travel warnings in Hebrew for Israelis about the reality of safety in the streets of the District, or of Detroit. Wait, I guess we'd have to bow to intense pressure from the Americans to pretend that America is just one big kumbaya campfire.

Chicago said...

The high end call girl operation that Eliot Spitzer got caught up with was founded by an Israeli immigrant. This shows the endless possibilities for the blackmail of those in government. While out on vacation somewhere, at a resort or luxury hotel, people of interest could be secretly videotaped engaging in kinky, underage, homo or whatever type sex. It wouldn't just be Israelis but includes just about everyone. John Perkins, author of the economic hitman books, implied in one of his books that Noriega had some dirt on GW Bush from the time he stayed at a hotel in Panama many years prior to becoming president.

Anonymous said...

"Gee, as an American, I'm SO outraged. I mean, I'm sure the US NEVER spies on Israel or any of its other allies, for that matter."

The story here is not that Israel spies on the US. All nations spy.

The real story is gentile Americans are afraid to say anything about this even though Israel is brazen in what it does.

Democrats are run by Jews, and Republicans are eager to win over Jews.

Anonymous said...

The blog English Manif is excellent on the subject of homosexualism. There is something to what he is writing about elite white gays and racism.

Anonymous said...

We pretend not to spy on our allies. They pretend not to spy on us. That is how the game is played.

Anonymous said...

If Putin was Russia's Deep State response, is there still an American Deep State?

Or have they already taken that?

Gordo

Ed said...

I'm reminded of the "Pearls before Swine" strip where Pig emails all his passwords to Russia so he doesn't have to bother with the hassle of them getting stolen. Maybe we should just give Isreali officials carte blanche access to all top secret information.

Anonymous said...

I imagine the reason they were in Gore's bathroom was to try to see if he was into Larry Craig type stuff.

Daniel said...

Read both articles for some more infuriating information. Some of the allegations against Israel came about in the context of behind-closed-door testimony in Congress over legislation that will exempt Israelis from the ordinary strictures of visa control. Israelis won't need to obtain visas. They will be able to come and go as they please. That's really smart, isn't it, considering that Israel has a policy of refusing to extradite Jewish criminals under any circumstances.

Whitehall said...

So how do I get on the Israelis' "target list?" do you need to play hard to get?

Sounds like a great party.

American and Israeli interests overlap more than they oppose. Seeing a powerful and competent Israel is in the US' interest.

So, unless I see some specific way that Israeli spying has actually harmed the US interests, I'm not going to get too excited.

Now the Chinese steal! We have far less overlapping interests and should be more concerned.

Anonymous said...

Gee, as an American, I'm SO outraged. I mean, I'm sure the US NEVER spies on Israel or any of its other allies, for that matter. And the Obama administration is SUCH a good ally to Israel, too, as illustrated by their turning off sanctions on Iran so Iran, out of the deep gratitude its leaders surely feel, will be sure to drop its nuke program. It's all really SO hard to understand.

Patriotic American is very patriotic. For many more such patriotic Americans, see the comments to the articles in question.

One thing's for sure: these patriotic Americans see (Obama's) 99% total American support for Israel, as opposed to the usual 100%, as anti-Semitism. (If anything it's anti-whiteness, but it's not like Israelis or American Jews give a shit about that)

Amazing how many people bring up the fact that the US spies on other countries as a defense of Israel.

You leave those American patriots alone. Putting Israel-uber-alles is what American patriots do.

Do you care more about "equality" between our country and our client state that we subsidize heavily OR do you care about protecting our country's industrial and technological edge, which helps to keep the country safe?

Anti-Semite.

But I don't blame the Israelis for this. They're just cowboys trying to carve out their own turf in a tough neighborhood.

But "American" Jewry should. They're the first ones to point out that the cowboys were evil Christian patriarchal genocidal racist Mengeles with infected blanket schemes. Which should put them squarely on the side of the Palestinians.

Anonymous said...

Gee, as an American, I'm SO outraged. I mean, I'm sure the US NEVER spies on Israel or any of its other allies, for that matter.

US is an ally (or is "puppet" a better word?)of Israel,but what evidence is there that Israel is an ally of the US?

Dennis Dale said...

Gee, as an American, I'm SO outraged. I mean, I'm sure the US NEVER spies on Israel or any of its other allies, for that matter. And the Obama administration is SUCH a good ally to Israel, too, as illustrated by their turning off sanctions on Iran so Iran, out of the deep gratitude its leaders surely feel, will be sure to drop its nuke program. It's all really SO hard to understand.

Yes, the great betrayal of us not nuking Iran. I should have guessed it was only a matter of time before people took up the "stabbed in the back" theme on behalf of Israel. Ohtheirony.

Anonymous said...

chutzpah = sociopathy

Anonymous said...

That reminds to me an unexplained German case. Juergen Moellemann, one of the mandarins of the Liberal Party, had become a black sheep because, being the president of the German-Arabian Committee, he had begun to criticize Israel. And Moellemann tells in his late book "Klartext" that in 2002 Liberal chief Westerwelle came completely destroyed and lamentable back from Israel - telling him that he had been intimidated to prevent a possible political post for Moellemann. Westerwelle was clearly enerved but refused to tell why and how he was intimidated (and mostly it's assumed that the case had something to do with Westerwelle's - then unacknowledged - homosexuality).

Anonymous said...

"BBC news this morning - they've sacked a DJ for playing a record containing what they describe as "the most toxic word in the English language".

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2625248/BBC-sacks-DJ-playing-The-Sun-Has-Got-His-Hat-On-didnt-know-original-features-N-word-Clarkson-wasnt-fired-actually-saying-it.html

The good news is that BBC DJs are free to continue playing rap music and "Oliver's Army"."


Sixty five years ago Noel Coward could have been arrested for being gay. Today he would be arrested for writing "Mad Dogs and Englishman."

Anonymous said...

This whole post has been alarming short on specifics. Tell us who did what to whom where and when and name the names of the Israeli agents. Until then it's all BS.

Mike said...

I have no problem believing Israel spies hard on American, but this story doesn't have the ring of truth.

For instance everyone knows its standard procedure to leave an intelligence operative in the room to prevent an assassin slipping in. The Israelis know this. Everyone does. Is it plausible that Israel would send an operative through the vents? That strikes me as an absurd suggestions. Israel has much better ways of spying on the Americans, trust me, especially where they have the home advantage.

By details like this the story undermines its own plausibility to the point where ultimately rings hollow. There's certainly a core of truth here - Israel certainly spies on the US, and good for them. They should spy on us, and we should spy on them - but this core has been used to invent a sensationalistic story for the gullible.

Lorenzo said...

I can't believe that the Israelis are so hard up for information - technical or otherwise - that they'd expect very much from Al Gore.

Compromise him by documenting his,"sex puppy" behavior maybe but information? Nah.

Anonymous said...

Now the Chinese steal! We have far less overlapping interests and should be more concerned.

Actually the significant stuff China gets is from what Israel steals from the US and passes on to China.

The Chinese aren't able to steal as much on their own because the US government is suspicious of Chinese spying and is allowed to be suspicious of Chinese spying.

Anonymous said...

By details like this the story undermines its own plausibility to the point where ultimately rings hollow. There's certainly a core of truth here - Israel certainly spies on the US, and good for them. They should spy on us, and we should spy on them - but this core has been used to invent a sensationalistic story for the gullible.

The general point of the story - that Israel is the most egregiously and heavily involved in spying against the US among official allies and enjoys relative immunity compared to other allies - is certainly plausible and not sensationalistic at all.

Anonymous said...

>That's really smart, isn't it, considering that Israel has a policy of refusing to extradite Jewish criminals under any circumstances



you wish. Or should I say, Meyer Lansky wished

Anonymous said...

Gee, as an American, I'm SO outraged. I mean, I'm sure the US NEVER spies on Israel or any of its other allies, for that matter. And the Obama administration is SUCH a good ally to Israel, too, as illustrated by their turning off sanctions on Iran so Iran, out of the deep gratitude its leaders surely feel, will be sure to drop its nuke program. It's all really SO hard to understand.

Patriotic American is very patriotic. For many more such patriotic Americans, see the comments to the articles in question.

One thing's for sure: these patriotic Americans see (Obama's) 99% total American support for Israel, as opposed to the usual 100%, as anti-Semitism. (If anything it's anti-whiteness, but it's not like Israelis or American Jews give a shit about that)

Amazing how many people bring up the fact that the US spies on other countries as a defense of Israel.

You leave those American patriots alone. Putting Israel-uber-alles is what American patriots do.

Do you care more about "equality" between our country and our client state that we subsidize heavily OR do you care about protecting our country's industrial and technological edge, which helps to keep the country safe?

Anti-Semite.

But I don't blame the Israelis for this. They're just cowboys trying to carve out their own turf in a tough neighborhood.

But "American" Jewry should. They're the first ones to point out that the cowboys were evil Christian patriarchal genocidal racist Mengeles with infected blanket schemes. Which should put them squarely on the side of the Palestinians.